I was wondering since sexual reproduction ( and Meiosis) makes a unique individual because it takes some traits from mom some traits from dad and...

I know that some organisms reproduce asexually when 'conditions are good' and reproduce sexually when 'conditions are bad' so the offspring might have a better chance at surviving...

How does evolution or diversity among species work in strictly asexual organisms?
Is it strictly mutation or... sorry I haven't learned much about evolution yet. A vague or simple answer would be fine, since, I’m sure I’ll learn more about it in cellular/molecular biology but I’m so curious now.
Thanks

Man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. - Henry Benson

If the conditions are good, yes some organisms reproduce asexually. Because it can survive with the present genetic material. Means no need for new gene combinations. But if the conditions are bad they reproduce sexually to have a different gene combiantion.

It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishment the scroll
I am the Master of my fate
I am the Captain of my soul.

mithrilhack wrote:are there any purely asexual organisms or have they all died out due to lack of diversity?

Bdeloids rotifers (I hope I do spell it correctly, but not sure ) are the first example that comes to my mind. They are even more asexual than bacteria (with all their horizontal transfer mechanism). IIRC, they survived a few million years without any evidence of sex.

You can't say most of them are or aren't because we don't know all the organisms out there No, haploid organisms can not reproduce asexually

Also note gene flow. If an organism goes from one habitat(habitat1) to another(habitat2) and he is better suited for the conditions of habitat2 better than the ones already there, he will reproduce more and by natural selection in time the "visitors" will take over habitat2 from the "locals". hope i explained it well enough

"As a biologist, I firmly believe that when you're dead, you're dead. Except for what you live behind in history. That's the only afterlife" - J. Craig Venter